Date/Time
Date(s) - Mon 12th May - Sat 17th May, 2025
All Day
Location
Moniack Mhor, Kiltarlity, Inverness-shire , IV4 7HT
Signals in the Noise
A tutored retreat for those engaged on work in progress responding to the climate emergency, in any genre, who would value a concentrated period of time in which to write, to engage with feedback, and to enjoy focused, supportive conversations with tutors and fellow writers.
Given the confronting complexities of the subject, the exploration of a diversity of approaches is at the heart of the week. We may discuss questions of art and witness, politics and poetry, activism and imagination, science and nature, expeditions and ecologies. The planet has altered so radically in our lifetimes – how can we make use of our experiences and observations in our writing? How might we connect respectfully in our work with the experience of others? What kind of future can we imagine?
Bring your questions, feelings, thoughts, ideas, anxieties, confusions, solutions, drafts and notebooks to a week of collaborative discussion, personal imagining and focused writing time in the company of others who are similarly creatively engaged.
Tutors
Nick Drake‘s poetry collections with Bloodaxe include The Man in the White Suit (Forward Prize for Best First Collection), Out of Range and The Farewell Glacier, a book-length poem responding to a voyage in the Arctic with Cape Farewell which he adapted as a Radio 3 drama. His poem ‘The Future’ was recorded by actor Andrew Scott for Culture Declares Emergency. His opera librettos include Between Worlds (ENO/ Barbican) and Cave (London Sinfonietta) with composer Tansy Davies. His collaborations with composer Rachel Portman include Earth Song and Tipping Points. His film writing credits includes One Life (2024). Stage plays include All the Angels (Globe Theatre and Smock Alley Dublin); Success for the NT Connections; and To Walk the Clouds (Nottingham Playhouse).
Nancy Campbell is a poet, essayist and book artist whose work embraces themes of landscape, migration and memory, climate and culture. Her decade-long creative response to the polar regions received the Ness Award for environmental writing from the Royal Geographical Society in 2020. As Canal Laureate, she has written commissions for the UK waterways, and her memoir, Thunderstone, documents a transformative season living in a caravan between the River Thames and the Oxford Canal. She has held numerous international research residencies, most recently as Visiting Professor of Literature at the Free University of Berlin.
Guest Reader
Anna Selby is a writer, researcher, and naturalist. Her most recent chapbook, Field Notes, was a bestseller for two years running with The London Review of Books Bookshop, was featured on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row and was an Irish Times Book of the Year. She is a Lecturer in Engaged Ecology and Regenerative Economics at Schumacher College, was one of the judges for the 2022 Ginkgo Prize for Ecopoetry, was editor of environmental, feminist publisher, Hazel Press and is doing a Practice-Led PhD on Empathy, Ecology and Plein Air Poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University. In December 2024 she was awarded with the Moth Nature Writing Prize for her poem, Acairseid Mhòr, Gometra.
Fees
The full fee for this course is £725. This includes your accommodation in a single room with shared bathroom, all meals, hot drinks and snacks from Monday afternoon until Saturday morning, and your tuition. For more information about the practicalities of our courses and retreats, please visit our About the Courses page.
A limited number of en-suite rooms are available, which can be booked in advance for a £50 surcharge. We will also reserve an en-suite room for anyone who may need it due to a medical condition. This will be offered out as an upgrade nearer the course start date if it is not needed.
A limited number of Twin Room places are available at a discounted price of £675 per person. When booking a Twin Room place, please tell us in the comments box which gender you are and which gender(s) you are comfortable sharing a room with. This information will remain confidential.
A small single room with a skylight is available at a discounted price of £700. Please note this room does not have an ordinary window, only a small skylight.
A deposit is required to secure your place, which is non-refundable after a 14-day cooling-off period. The balance payment of £475 is due six weeks before the course begins. Refunds are not always available – please read our Terms & Conditions for full details about our cancellation policy. If you would like to pay the full amount in advance, please call our booking office on 01463 592 828 or email info@moniackmhor.org.uk.
Bursaries are always available, and you also have the option to pay in instalments. If you have any problems paying online, or wish to discuss paying in instalments or applying for financial help, or would simply like assistance, please contact us by emailing info@moniackmhor.org.uk or phoning us on 01463 592828.
Access
Please let us know in your booking form if you have any access requirements, for example a ground floor bedroom and / or access to a step-free accessible shower room. We also reserve one en-suite bedroom per course for anyone who may need this due to a medical condition. For more information about access to our courses, please visit our Access page.
Terms and Conditions
Please read our Terms & Conditions before booking.